By Joe MahabirFebruary 22nd, 2010
Better Hope (New York) defeated Floodlights A from Guyana by an exciting
three-wicket margin in the 2010 Florida Cup Masters 20-over softball
tournament on Sunday at the Fort Lauderdale Cricket Stadium, Florida.
Notably, this championship encounter was considered the match of the
tournament and it was played at the only cricket stadium in the USA.

Better Hope (NYC) with their trophies.

Floodlights A won the toss and decided to take first knock. They reached
a challenging 108 all out off 19.3 overs. Opener Ishwar Persaud of
Floodlight A, top-scored for the visitors with 41 which included six
fours as Roy Britania grabbed three wickets for 19 runs off 3.3 overs
and Jagdesh Arjune supported nicely with two wickets for 10 runs off
his allotted four overs.

Batting second, the Better Hope team lost early
wickets, but the middle and tail end fought hard and won a thriller
with just two balls to spare for the loss of 7 wickets. For Better
Hope (New York), man-of-the-match J. Arjune led the way with 34,
while R. Britania chipped in with 30. For the Guyana team, Doodnauth
Sookram snatched two wickets for 15 runs off four overs.

Better Hope
(New York) received the Championship trophy plus US$1 000, while
each player was awarded with a trophy. Floodlights A also collected
the runner-up trophy and the team was recognized by the Central
Broward Regional Park with medals for their participation in this
year’s tournament.
Guyana Floodlights Softball Association fielded two teams in this
year’s competition. The B team suffered four consecutive defeats.
The victorious Better Hope New York Team consisted of the following
players: Ronald Evelyn (Balam) captain, Jagdesh Arjune, Kampta Sanichar
(Sweetboy), Danny Dass, Peter Ramroop, Joseph Aproo, Mike Khan,
Roy Britania, Gussie Gordon, Kawall Rajpaul, Narine Ramroop, Peter
Mangal and Ritchie Bacchus.

The manager was Marlon Roopnarine, ably supported
by Nizamudeen Razack. The Better Hope team played unbeaten in the
four preliminary games which started on Friday Feb12th and continued
on Saturday 13th with the final on Friday 14th . The top run getter
for the Better Hope team was Gussie Gordon and he was well supported
by Kampta Sanichar, Jagdesh Arjune, Roy Britania, and Joseph Aproo.
The bowling honors went to Ronald Evelyn, R. Britania, K. Rajpaul
and J. Arjune.

The Captain
and Manager stated that all members played exceeding well as a team
and deserve to be the new champions. The Better Hope team now looks
forward to defend their championship and make it 3-PEAT in the Independence
Cup scheduled for the July 4th weekend later this year in New York.
Great job guys and good luck in the new season.